(A/N: I keep forgetting to bring the rest of this story over to from ao3. Just got a favorite notification tonight that reminded me! Thank you kind stranger! - 11/4/2020)

I didn't hear from Hank for a solid two and a half weeks, which was just as well because I had become equally busy at my own place of employment now that it would soon be fall.

I was in the middle of setting volunteer schedules when my phone buzzed from an unknown number. It took me a second but I remembered that I hadn't swapped Hank's number to this new phone. Could be him.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Alex? It's Connor. I'm calling from -

("Stop it!" )

"- I'm calling from Hank's phone. How are you?"

"I'm okay. Is Hank all right? What's up?"

"Yes, he's here -

("SweartofuckI'mpullingyourpumpinyoursleep!" )

"- and we would like to invite you to a concert in the park this coming weekend. It should be very fun."

I leaned back in my chair and laughed to myself.

"Is there a reason Hank isn't asking me himself?"

"One moment."

I could tell that Connor tried to cover the receiver but didn't quite succeed, as I could hear Hank's indistinguishable grumbling out of earshot before he took back the phone for himself, indicated by the next voice in my ear.

"Hey, Al."

"What's going on over there, Hank?"

"Yeah, hey, look it's gonna be a bunch of cops. Kinda after-party deal for a buddy's retirement from the force. But of course Connor had to invite Lana so he wanted me to invite you. You don't have ta if you don't think you're gonna-"

"No, I'll come. That's fine. Easy exit if I want to leave."

I swore I heard Hank smile through the phone by the sound of his voice. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. All right, it's gonna be back at that amphitheater off of Atwater. Look for the crowd of douchebags. Dunno what time we'll be there, but show up whenever you want. Later."

I had lost track of time, enjoying my space alone and the musicians on stage, so I wasn't aware what time the 'crowd of douchebags' showed up but I did hear someone calling my name from across the lawn. I peered to my side over my sippy cup of a daiquiri and saw Lana jaunting towards me. I lifted the plastic in greeting, but internally my only thought was 'Dammit'.

I quickly felt guilty when she greeted me and beckoned me over to where seemingly half of the DPD was partaking in a case of beer.

"Hey," she said, stopping us several yards from the group. "You know, I'm sorry for being intrusive the other week, jumping on you with Connor like that. We've just been concerned for Hank. Hope it didn't make things worse."

"No, it's been fine. I don't know what he has or hasn't said to you guys, I don't-"

"Oh, not much of anything -"

I zoned out for a few moments as I stared over at the crowd. I could pick out at least four other android officers aside from Connor, but no Hank. I began to subconsciously walk, surveying the area for him.

"He's getting a keg."

I snapped out of my focus. "What?"

"Hank. He was getting a keg from the car. Should be back in a second."

"The law's loosened up, I see."

"Hey, if you're worried, he's been really good, at least for as long as I've known him. Only recent time he was pretty wasted was the night he sang 'Thrift Shop ' for karaoke. Oh yeah, that was a sight. I might even still have the security tape to show you sometime. Definitely was one of his better moods."

As Lana spoke, I couldn't get the sour taste from my mouth. The other night, Hank had told me the story she had reluctantly shared with them several months ago, not too long after they were all getting to know each other. How her brother had run away as a teenager and dealt Ice and how she, in making sure he was safe, joined him as a dealer for a short while before he was killed in an accident. How she had to hand over all the names of anyone she had known back in the day, the location of any old stashes. I had been familiar with the beginning of this history when we met on the thread, minus the part about she herself dealing. In the back of my mind, I was constantly wondering if my own sibling was a victim of any of those connections.

All in the past though, wasn't it. They had seemed to forgive her transgressions, and I would not bring them up, but still, that thought would always remain.

I finally saw Hank trudge up with the keg, received by a round of applause. He greeted me with a distant nod which I returned with a short wave.

Lana laughed next to me. "There's so much I wanna know about the two of you and I've got nothing. Hey, sorry, I won't ask. Whatever bad ju-ju happened before is still between the two of you."

"There wasn't - there wasn't 'bad ju-ju '. I had to go away and take care of things. Then I got stuck and couldn't make it back anyway. That's all."

Lana elicited a coy smile. "Yeah?"

I tossed my head back and laughed through my nose before looking past her towards the stage area. If I wanted to get to know Hank again, I realized I was going to need her help.

"Hank was a total wreck when we met. I'm sure you know the timeline there. His son died, he got a divorce, his disciplinary record was off the charts and he was trying to kill himself every day with the alcohol and smoking and other dangerous shit like not getting caught on DUIs. I finally had enough of seeing him leave the bar by himself and always come in just to pass out in the corner. I helped him get home, helped clean his house, and then it started evolving into something and I ...but then I had to leave. And it turns out he had taken my leaving harder than I thought. He's so different now. So am I. I just...want to spend time with him again. Fuck , here I go reminiscing. I barely know you -"

That was a good place to end the short story as we noticed Hank approaching.

"Fuck you two doing. Oh god, you're swapping dick stories, aren't you. Shit. Come on and grab one before you say anything else to each other."

"What is he-?"

"I'll tell you later," Lana said.

I hadn't planned on it that evening, but since this was a retirement party and Hank was occupied with this department, I spent most of the time with Lana off to the side with Connor stepping in intermittently. They shared stories of their time together with Hank and his cases (most of which Hank had already shared with me but it was nice to hear Connor's side).

I had to ask before we got too deep into conversation. "What the fuck was he talking about - 'swapping dick stories' ?" This was directed towards Lana.

"Oh, Lord. I think it was one of the first times I slept over at their house and I was up early since Connor had to leave for work. So I decided to sleep in for a little bit more, and I get up to go steal their coffee, thinking that Hank had also gone into the station, but he's walking down the hallway with this damn robe wide open. Everything in sight just there. Two of us freaked out but I'm secretly thinking Hank's a little more of an exhibitionist than he lets on."

"Sadly society still does not approve," I heard Hank's voice behind us. "What kinda shit are they telling you about me?"

"The juicy stuff, Hank," I said. "How you are relentless with the dirty jokes and innuendos."

"Please, I'm a fucking peach to live with." To Lana, he said, "You like the jokes and they will continue until this one -

(He pointed down at Connor)

"- either takes a vow of celibacy or you learn to do the dirty outside of my house ."

"Does that include the car?" Connor asked.

"Yes, that includes the car, Connor. No one gets to have sex in that vehicle except for me ."

A furtive uncontrolled glace towards me and then, "Fuck ." He walked away at that point to join the rest of his officers.

"Is that something we can ask about?" Connor asked.

"No!"

An additional piece from their collection of Silly Hank Stories was the tale of the night Connor caught Hank jerking off in the Interrogation Room only a few weeks ago when he entered Observation to retrieve a file.

"Oh, it was very awkward," he said. "It was like...watching a car wreck. You can't look away until it's too late."

I buried my head under my arms to hide my laughter and too-wide smile at the thought of Hank doing a little reminiscing upon my return.

After a solid minute in which they let me be embarrassed in secret, Connor asked why I left Detroit.

They would find out sooner or later. Might as well get it over with.

"I was a cutter... Used to do it a lot when I was a teenager, and then again after my brother overdosed back in '27. And then again after spending more time with Hank. Things were getting intense between us, I mean, it was good. It was something. But it kinda - we just had different ways of coping with our shit, ya know? He was disappointed, which really says something given how he was fucking himself up. I finally realized I needed some time away and checked myself into a clinic for a while. After that, I was up and down the coast of Erie helping with border crossings. That was most of the past two years. Just helping androids and seeing all that horror. That story's for another night, though. Or if Hank wants to fill you in, I told him most of it."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'd love to hear more of that. I don't think we ever talked about it online."

"No, I never brought it up."

"So are you two -"

I shrugged and gazed off again to watch him approach us. He flopped down on the grass very close to my other side, visibly not entirely sober and stretched out an arm behind me, fingers flitting down my lower back before falling to the grass. "So what the fuck kinda stories you all sharing, huh?"

"Pretty good ones. Something about the Interrogation Room?" I looked down at him with knowing eyes. He turned beet red.

He immediately yelled "Connor!" and got up to chase the adept android halfway down the block before tackling him into the sidewalk.

I laughed my ass off at the sight of the two of them, Connor very obviously throwing the resultant wrestling match to give Hank an ego boost.

I turned back to Lana once the men had settled their score. "I think I should actually get going if that's all right," I told her. "It's been a long week and frankly I'm getting a bit of a headache, I'm sorry."

"Okay, well I'm glad you came. This was fun getting to know you finally."

"You, too." I nodded and headed to the sidewalk to watch Hank and Connor approach.

"You going?" Hank asked. Connor paused as well.

"Yeah, just getting a little tired and headachey. I'm gonna call it a night."

To Connor, Hank said, "Will you give us a couple minutes?"

"Of course," said Connor. "Have a good night, Alex."

I nodded at his departure and Hank walked us back a few paces so he could lean against a tree.

"You actually looked like you were enjoying yourself with the two of them. Don't really appreciate the fact-exchange, but I guess the cat's outta the bag."

"Yeah, that one uh - brought back a nice memory, you know."

Hank flushed again and he shoved his hands deep in pockets. "One of the better ones. Hey, well if you're up for a next time, they already got a date planned next week for bowling. Then every other Friday we play stupid board games. You're welcome to come over."

"Yeah, I think that actually sounds really good."

"Yeah? Hey," he grabbed my wrist as I made to start walking.

With a languid tip of the head and a surreptitious glance from my lips to the tree, he gave a weak tug to pull me out of direct sight of the venue. In another moment, his fingers tilted up my chin and we came together in a deep breathy kiss, one no doubt partially spurred by the memory of that cold steel table in the station. I sighed any lingering tension into his touch. He was gentle and even in the middle of the public sidewalk, he wasn't embarrassed. The setting sun assuredly helped in this; the less light available, the less chance his teammates way back on the lawn would see us from there. He tugged me in closer and finally broke the kiss so he could envelop me in a full-bodied hug. I know this was supposed to be a romantic moment under the tree but I felt that twitch and giggled lightly.

"Yeah yeah, I know," he said. "You've still got that effect on me." He broke his grasp so I could step back and giggle again with him, biting my lip at the impending fantasy I would have later.

"I'll call you," he said and pushed from the tree to head back.

Bowling night, the others got me talking about my work at the rehab clinic.

I explained to them that my work brought me individuals of all backgrounds but the majority of them were there as a result of job-loss and/or economic downturn. When the androids were freed, there was suddenly this monumental surge in the population. The displaced humans made a little bit of room, but it didn't cut even. And also while not all of the freed androids stayed, there was now a new housing issue. The people that came into the center were still angry but they had no way of leaving, they were trapped in their situations.

As Hank listened to me speak, his gaze softened with pride, enraptured with my story. We hadn't spoken about any of this since I'd been back so this was all news to him, as well.

As the androids built themselves new homes and found niche job skills, primarily construction and teaching to the best of my knowledge, people could slowly trickle back into the city. The restaurant industry had seen a boom of late, more diners and bars and brewpubs, craft beer was making a return.

So not only were all the clinics in the city going to be at full capacity for the foreseeable future, but crime was slowly making an upturn again as people wanted their jobs back.

This was an insurmountable issue in my mind, which was compounded with the longer lifespan of androids and easily replaceable parts.

I paused to apologize to Connor. "I hope I haven't come across the wrong way."

"Not at all, you're not wrong. We're seeing a rise in hate crimes again, aren't we, Hank?"

"Yeah, I'm not looking forward to it. Think the Chief is talking to Markus again sometime soon. Dunno if I'll be pulled into that."

Connor was infuriatingly good at bowling, even when he tried not to be. It was an absolute riot to hear Hank insult his friend and poke fun at his romantic life.

"Come on, Connor, try not poking your fingers in all three holes. Maybe only one at a time, don't need to be an overachiever."

"Connor! For fucks' sake, stop knocking so many of the pins down! Girls like it when they're up! Up, Connor!"

"I swear to Christ, his posture is still too good. I feel inadequate just looking at him. Lana, will you please loosen a pin or something next time you're down there?"

I stepped away to grab a little something to eat and decided to pause at one of the rear high tables so I could watch the three of them. In response to Hank's bowling innuendos directed towards Connor, Lana yelled, "Hank! This shit is EXACTLY why you need to get laid!"

I nearly spurt out my drink in laugher and half-assed apologized for listening in on their quips.

Connor's observation didn't help me keep my food down.

"I agree, Hank. Lana and I will stay at her place this week if you need alone time. Humans who have not experienced a sexual release in some time seem to have pent up emotions-"

"I release perfectly regularly, Connor!"

At the end of the evening, Hank offered to drive me home as the others had taken Lana's car. I consented and followed him out wordlessly to the parking lot where we waved goodnight to the other two. We didn't get into his car immediately, instead watching them drive off before I spoke.

"That was fun. I hadn't done anything like that in a while," I said.

"Yeah? Well, those two are always looking for new shit around the city. Like I said, I get dragged into it. So if you ever wanna...you know."

"There's a lot that I wanna do, Hank. But I can't help but feel like you're avoiding something. Do I still make you nervous?"

Hank leaned back against his car door doing his best to look at me squarely as he spoke.

"Yeah, you make me fuckin' nervous. Al, you left. And I don't want you to... I'm not mad about that. I'm glad you got some help. Glad you went out and saved some androids. But I, you know, I was over it. Hey, I'm really fuckin' glad you're back, okay? But I got all this shit churning around up here -" (he made a vague gesture towards his head) "- and I'm...fuck. Come here." He beckoned me closer with an outstretched hand. "Really don't feel like talking."

He uncrossed his ankles, permission for me to step in and accept a chaste kiss.

"Can you at least admit you kept checking out my ass in there? Then I'll be happy."

"I'm not admitting nothin'."

I giggled into another kiss as he tugged me closer by the waist, building intensity in the empty lot under buzzing and flickering out-dated streetlamps and zapped moths. We were like teenagers after a football game. Score one for Hank.

"We really never made out on top of your car before?"

"Mmm, nah, always inside. Don't wanna risk denting it."

His hands traveled along and held my waist, hips, lower back to bring me flush between his legs against the car. We must have stayed like this for five, ten minutes maybe, slow, methodical, and hands never straying far from torsos. My breath hitched for a beat when his fingers accidentally brushed my skin just under the hem of my tank. He adjusted the fabric but still kept pressure, both of us making very concerted efforts not to stray from each other's lips.

Hank fucked up first by trailing his mouth down my neck to exposed clavicle and I gripped his shirt tighter. He broke off for a second before sucking the wind from my lungs once more.

I ruined the moment by giggling at the feel of his semi against my thigh. I tauntingly barely pressed forward to indicate its presence, eliciting a low annoyed groan from the man.

"Yeah, yeah, another reminder, I get it. Fuck," he breathed. "Old habits, huh."

I stepped back, allowing him to straighten up and brush past me to enter on the driver's side, not so subtly adjusting himself before he could sit.

"Keep your hands to yourself, all right? Gonna be uncomfortable enough driving home. Geez - zus."

The following Friday night I walked to his house; they must have seen me approach because the door was open before I even had a chance to knock.

"Hello, Alex."

I chuckled through my nose. "Hi, Connor. Thanks for the reminder," I said as I entered. 'Hank's' text message was a little too grammatically correct to not have been typed by Connor. And at the time I received it, I had to laugh that Hank had forgotten to tell me exactly when to show up.

Upon my entrance, he stood from the kitchen table and apologized for this, running a hand down the back of his scalp. "Yeah, hey, sorry, I thought I told you. Memory's gone to shit."

Nervous. I knew it.

We partook in a very heated game of Monopoly that night which ended in Hank trying to shove the wheelbarrow up Connor's nose after enduring a papercut from a property exchange. Lana was doused in paper money though I ultimately relished my near-win with ownership of the greens and blues.

Connor insisted on sanitizing all the pieces, however, due to their unfortunate temporary vacation in Hank's boxer shorts, which was done purely out of spite for the rest of us the second he realized he was broke.

The entire night I couldn't stop laughing; I was so happy to see Hank loose. He had changed so much and I was already looking forward to the next get-together as a foursome.

These past two events were also highlighted by light 'accidental' touches between the two of us, capstoned by the make-out session in the parking lot.

He graced me with light touches to my lower back when I sat next to him on the hard plastic benches during bowling or his sofa (Connor was on the floor and Lana the lumpy chair). Too-long draws from his Slushie straw gave him brain freeze and I laughed my ass off, completely destroying his futile attempt at seduction. For the Friday game night, he wore the same shirt I picked out for him the evening we explored the food trucks. This fucking bastard. He's doing it on purpose.

...He's doing it on purpose.

Mostly I was experiencing a tad too much pressure and did my best to ignore the uncontrollable pulses. Hank was failing as well, obvious by his inability to control his eyeballs whenever I stood up.

Over the course of the game, Hank, Lana, and I went through several beers but stopped after 3 or 4 apiece. During one highly tense roll of the dice in which Hank ended up in jail for the fifth time ("Fucking cocksucker!"), Connor picked up an empty can Lana had placed next to him, and was holding it. Examining it?

"What's the matter?" I asked him.

"Oh. Well, I was always curious about something."

"Yeah, Connor, what's that?" Hank asked, not entirely interested given his recent humiliation.

"Well, I've heard the term 'beer can' in reference to a man's penis. And I'm curious."

"Connor-" Lana tried to interject.

"You wanna measure yourself, Connor?" Hank perked up. "All right, seeing as everyone here's already seen mine, there's no shame left."

"Hank! No!" Lana protested through a fit of laughter. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare, Connor!"

"Oh I wouldn't mind seeing this," I said to her under my breath.

She was still protesting from the chair as Hank stood. He told Connor to get up as well, promptly swiping the can from his friend's hand. Both men, with zero hesitation and completely straight expressions, unzipped their pants and revealed their glory.

I felt like I was watching a comedy show on mute with Hank holding the can between them, comparing against it, Connor enraptured with the explanation. And no doubt my eyes were immediately drawn to Hank and thoughts of kneeling before him, but Connor - well that was a sight. That was...very nice. I could understand now why he and Lana were always going at it.

"Have the two of you really never compared before?" I asked.

"What? No, course we never - fuck kinda question is that?" Hank retorted. I didn't quite believe him.

At the end of the Monopoly game, long after pants had been re-zipped and the cans thrown in the garbage so as to not tempt the men into another match, I took my leave to the bathroom for a few minutes. The other two spoke to Hank as soon as I was out of earshot.

They weren't doing a very good job of keeping their voices hushed.

The first to speak was Lana. "Hank, you could cut the sexual tension in this room with a steak-knife. I am about to choke on how thick the air is here. Go back to her place and get it on already, Jesus Christ!"

"Woah! Hey! This is my house! Why don't you two leave and you can go choke on something else!"

"Maybe I will!"

I couldn't make out if she said anything else but Hank was trying to get them to leave.

"I'm not talking about this with the two of you. No! Connor, don't you dare open your mouth, I don't want to hear it, go!"

"Fine! But the next time we see you, there better be hickeys allll up over that."

"Out!"

When I emerged from the bathroom and back into the living space, Hank was just shutting the front door. He rolled his head when he noticed me.

"Shit ."

At first, I had to laugh. "They're not wrong, you know," I said. "Maybe we just - you know - we get it out of the way."

"'Get it out of the way?' Yeah, that's really romantic." He gathered the pizza box to toss in the garbage in the kitchen. I halted him with a touch to his arm.

"What would be romantic then? What are you thinking?"

"Ain't gonna tell you that."

"No? So you've thought about this?"

He brushed past me again to finish cleaning up the game and stash it on the bookshelf. He spoke as he did so. "Maybe. You think I don't think about it? I think about it constantly. Wanna do something nice with you. Wanna go back to - to doing that with you. But we're gonna do it right this time." He paused at the shelf and ran a hand through his hair in contemplation. "Do you remember way back, when you were being so fucking pushy, I said I was afraid of you? And all that shit you had said to me after, I remember feeling that you were right. But you were also right to end it before we destroyed each other. So I just wanna do this in the right steps at the right time cause I - fuck , I'm not good at this stuff. Been way too long."

"Hank, when we met, that was the worst period of your life. I even remember we met before you were ever divorced, it must have been just after the accident and I was only doing my job serving you. We got to know each other through horrible things happening and horrible ways of coping and - you didn't have the bandwidth for anything else in your life. You were always filled with hesitancies."

"Yeah, well, shit's changed."

"It really has. Never thought I'd see the day you were comparing penis sizes with an android, and yet here we are!"

Laughing with him over this incident, I really didn't want to leave but it wasn't my place yet to overstay my welcome.

"Hey, will you drive me home?"

I just wanted those extra few minutes with him in silence and replay the last few hours in my head.

He parked half up on the curb right off of Woodward and put on his hazards. We could barely hear the thump thump music from inside the Club.

"Thank you. I know I could have walked but this was nice." I was about to pull on the door latch when he told me to wait.

"Al. I, uh - I know what I just said back at the house, but I wanna ask you, cause God knows Connor will be up my ass about it and will probably ask you for me if I don't. The gala is coming up, annual policemen's ball charity event shit. Didn't happen last year cause of, well, everything, but we're doing it again this year, which means I gotta show up and rent a tux and shit and give a speech, probably a couple of 'em, and a presentation, and dance. And of course, Connor's gonna ask his girl and if I go -"

"Hank. Shut the fuck up, you're rambling. Yes, I'll come with you. I'd love to be your plus one and grab your ass in public. I'll even buy a really nice dress with the absolute zero dollars I have saved up and blow everyone away with exposed cleavage because how can the Captain's guest look like total shit? Maybe I'll just borrow a dress from the gals over here," I said, tossing a thumb to Eden.

He gave me that look, that look I always wanted to kiss right off his face, the slightly confused, recoiling, but very remotely turned on look, very similar to the ones he'd give me way back when I first confessed I found him attractive.

"I can give you my card…"

"I'll be fine! I'll figure something out. I would love to join you, Hank. And worrying if something like this is too soon, well, I am curious how you're going to introduce me, but you have time to find the right term. 'Ex-rehab bitch' is one option. 'Chick who held my hair back when I puked.' Or better yet, 'Girl I used to pork in the parking lot ' -"

"Hey hey hey, maybe not so explicit. You're right, yeah, way to make this really fucking awkward, Alex."

"Well, we both know that was always my specialty." I turned in the seat to reach out and run my fingertips through his hair before taking his hand from his lap. "Like I said, timing has been shit. But it really means a lot you're asking me to come."

"It's not like you're a total stranger, they did ask about you after the show."

"Yeah? What'd you say then?"

"The truth. Old friend who was off helping save androids along the northeast border. They'll wanna hear about that."

"Okay. Yeah, that'll be nice. Don't think I've worn a dress since high school prom." I got out the car and bent down and before slamming the door shut, I added, just to make his skin crawl: "Never fucked in one either now that I think about it."